No Tweety.

Politico writes about Chris Matthews' rumblings about running for US Senate in Pennsylvania. NBC News execs think it's a ploy to get a better deal with his contract (which would be hilarious), but it looks to be pretty serious.

The garrulous host of the show "Hardball with Chris Matthews" has already picked out a home in Philadelphia to establish residency in the state, according to a Democratic operative in discussions with him about a potential candidacy. Over Thanksgiving weekend, at his vacation house in Nantucket, Matthews’ family members gave him their full backing.

As speculation surrounding his potential candidacy heats up, Matthews has also been asking advisers whether to step down from his MSNBC post well before his contract expires in June. At one recent meeting, he was advised that if he truly intends to run, he should resign from the network as soon as possible.

“We talked about the value of doing this now and six months from now. I advocated that he do this as soon as possible,” the operative said. “It’s the MSNBC stuff that’s going to jam him up. I said, 'If you want to be a U.S. senator, step up and get into the race.'”

It's kind of painfully obvious, if you ask me. He's started airing lots of his shows from Philly for no discernible reason. He just hosted a hospital fundraiser in Camden. He had Open Left blogger and Philadelphia ward committeeperson Chris Bowers on his show the other day. And a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is on the record about discussions.

So how exactly do Pennsylvania Democrats feel about the possibility of Chris Matthews running for Senate?

Abe Amoros, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, confirmed to Election Central that Matthews has been talking to Democrats in the state about a run, and says Dems think Matthews could have a real shot.

"It's in its infancy right now," Amoros said. "He's just talking to people. Conversations are going on, obviously. We will know whether or not he's a serious candidate some time early next year."

There's even a poll out there showing Matthews within 3 points of Arlen Specter at 46%-43% in a head-to-head matchup.

Let me be clear: THIS CAN'T HAPPEN. Matthews is a court jester to power and nothing more. When George Bush was riding high he was completely enamored of him, when Obama was the latest flavor a thrill was running up his leg. He has no principles other than what the Village tells him, and the knee-jerk reaction is to punch the hippies. "Everybody sort of likes the President (Bush), except those whack jobs on the left" is a pretty good example.

Digby says it so I don't have to.

Perhaps the" real "Chris Matthews has emerged now that MSNBC has been made safe for progressives. Or, conversely, maybe the real Chris Matthews is actually an opportunistic, hypocritical jackass who should be shunned from any kind of Democratic politics for as long as he lives. Your mileage may vary depending upon whether you think enthusiastically sucking up to the GOP on television for the past decade is something that should be forgotten.

I won't bother to write the book on Matthews again, but as one who has been chronicling his televised rhetorical atrocities for years, let's just say his record speaks for itself. The amount of damage he did, going all the way back to the Clinton years and up until just about five minutes ago is considerable. He is as unacceptable as a Democratic high official as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, perhaps less so because of the fact that he is, by all accounts, a whore who has made millions of dollars a year destroying Democrats, while privately assuring his friends and associates that he doesn't really mean it. At least Rush plays for his own team with everything he's got.

Seriously, this guy is a clown who will make the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania into a laughing stock. Darrell Hammond alone will kill him if Youtube doesn't. It's an insane idea. If you like liberals like Joe Lieberman, you'll love Chris Matthews.

The fact that this is being discussed seriously makes me wonder if there's anybody who has repeatedly and enthusiastically fucked the Democratic party over the past 20 years or so to whom the party leadership aren't giving political amnesty? It would be nice to know so that I don't waste my breath defending them anymore only to be made a fool of when their tormentors are welcomed into the party as if it never happened.

Pennsylvania's a big state with a lot of talented young politicians. Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak spring to mind. I don't even love all of their politics, but they'd be a damn sight better than a fool like Tweety.

Philadelphia is one of the hubs of the national blogosphere, but I'm not sure about the local blogging scene. Hopefully someone will lead the charge against this lunacy.

UPDATE: What David Sirota said. It's not excerptable. Go read it.